April 27th……
I will start off by saying……by the time we got home yesterday after a 12 hour day, we were exhausted! Ovi took us on a wild adventure into a wildlife reserve. We had the opportunity to see an elephant, giraffes up close and personal, hippos, water bucks, crocodiles , wart hogs and a bunch of other beautiful creatures. In true Ovi form, he gave us an incredible adventure……if you know Ovi, you know! 😎
Today was another great day! It’s hard knowing our time is almost over for this mission trip. We went out this morning to checking for Covid testing….we need a test within a very specific time frame in order to renter to US. The lab tech at the hospital was very kind and said “yes I know (or I understand) what America wants”. We have our appts set up for tomorrow with expectations of having results when we need them and for tests to be negative. Afterwards, we went back to the hardware store to return a wrench the owner had lent Ed and Ovi and then it was off to do a little shopping. Unfortunately, because of the rains last night the vendors weren’t able to come to the mission house, so we went to them! Let me let you in on a few details…….you must haggle. They don’t expect you to pay full price. Part of the culture here is to haggle…..I AM NOT A GOOD HAGGLER! Ed and Karey……they are fantastic hagglers!!! I then became the bookkeeper….this is usually reserved for Ovi,s accountant, better know as Gabby. I had the pencil and paper and tried to keep it all organized…….I was sweating just from all the haggling!😂 It was a good time and we were able to get some gifts and help support local guys and support their craft.
We came back to the mission house to drop off our finds and had lunch with Lita and the kids.
We headed out to Nasadegu for afternoon bible study. We stopped in a local store on the way to buy some biscuits (cookies) and drinks as a treat for whoever showed up at the Bible study. Good thing we bought a lot because there was a big crowd! At the church in Nasadegu, we taught Pastor Jonah and everyone else the evangecube. Ed went, Karey went, I went and Ovi went……it was good for them to see that there are different ways to present the Gospel without changing its truth. Pastor Jonah was able to present the Gospel with the evangecube after us too! It was good to see everyone taking it in! There were a lot of ladies there and 1 lady in particular that I remember from Sept 2019 when Leah and I came to teach the pastors wives and then ladies in different villages. She remembered too……she gave me the biggest hug 3 times! I can’t wait to come back (Lord willing) to sit again with her and dig through scripture together! Ed, Ovi, Stanley and Pastor Jonah had the opportunity to talk about church challenges, pastoral ministry and building maintenance too. Good open dialogues supporting each other, challenging each other and looking towards pointing others to Christ. It’s got to be challenging out here alone as a Pastor. Ed and I talked a bit about it…..back in the states there is more support than a Pastor in a village …… all things to think on……many things to be in prayer on!
Back at the mission house, Ovi grilled out and we had a delicious dinner. We had the opportunity to introduce Lita and Ovi to the card game Phase 10 tonight too.
Another great day here in Malawi…….